thanks for watching. i'm john seigenthaler. sorry seems to be the hardest word. for republicans. good evening. i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews. leading off tonight, who deserves the real apology here? agreement in washington is a rare there but there's widespread recognition that the rollout of the affordable care act has been a mess. president obama himself has acknowledged that his baby, what he's been fighting for these last four years is sick. he's owned up to the failures of his team which botched the

website's launch, and last night in an interview with chuck todd, he owned up to a failure of his own. that people feel betrayed by a promise he made them but couldn't keep. a promise they could keep their insurance if they liked it. let's listen to the president. >> well, first of all, i meant what i said, and we worked hard to try to make sure that we implemented it properly, but obviously we didn't do a good enough job. and i regret that. >> i am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me. we've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and we're going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this. >> the fact is, these are people in junk plans that could bankrupt them and their families if they ever got sick. the new plans may cost more than

they're used to. ask anyone who got bankrupt by getting cancer and getting treatment, it's worth it. it's been a cocktail of distraction and politics. republican house speaker john boehner had this response -- an apology is certainly in order. but what americans want to hear is that the president is going to keep his promise. that's why the house will vote next week to allow anyone with a health care plan they like to keep it." now, let's not forget this is the party that has peddled some of the most wild and ludicrous lies to constituents about the president's health care law. this is the party that did everything they could to sabotage the law. then cried crocodile tears when it ran aground. this is the party that nearly send the country into an economic tailspin while attempting to kill the law, all the while knowing that they'll lose, and it's the party whose governors have turned down the law's expansion of medicaid

which would have been 5 million poor people insurance at virtually no cost to their states. we should ask who should offer the real apology here? this as republicans ravel in their own politics. david corn is a washington contributor with t"the washingtn pos post". jonathan capehart is an opinion writer with "the washington post." both are msnbc contributors. jonathan, it's not every day you hear a president say i'm sorry. evaluate the weight of that apology and its effectiveness. >> i mean, it was something the president felt he needed to say for that narrow sliver of americans who are in the individual insurance market in terms of the overall insurance market. those are folks, you know, who felt a little betrayed by the president's assurances that said they'd be a i believe to keep their plans if they liked their plans, but it also speaks of a president who probably feels weary that this big thing they, the affordable care act, has

boiled down to criticisms over how healthcare.gov works. when obama care as we're all calling it is a whole lot more than a website, a whole lot more than the 6 million americans who are losing their health insurance plans now but as you said will get better plans later, and so what i think he's trying to do is trying to just stop the bleeding, stop the political bleeding, and try to move the conversation forward. >> well, to your point and david corn this is how twisted i think the whole situation has become. while there is a vote in the house next week, the republican-controlled house, it will be an advocacy vote for underinsurance. what happened to the notion of personal responsibility? they will be advocating the right of someone to carry no hospitalization, if that's what their current plan calls for, and to be a burden to everyone else, if they should have catastrophe. >> or they'll be voting in favor of junk plans that were sold to people with follows promises

saying they'll be covered in the case of a medical emergency. so the republicans after voting 40-odd times to repeal obama care without replacing it, without giving us any substitute, they're finally going to vote in favor of plans that don't provide decent insurance. it is kind of crazy. and it shows you, michael, just how far the debate has gone off the rails. they aren't talking, republicans certainly aren't talking, about what to do about the 45 million americans without insurance, or the tens of millions of americans who couldn't get good insurance because of pre-existing conditions and scam jobs. so that's a big picture instead we're focusing on what jonathan rightly called a slice of the issue, which is a problem. it's a small problem. but we're not talking about the big issue, which is how do we have a decent health insurance system for all americans. >> to your point and speaking of

crazy, republicans have denounced president obama for his lack of clarity when it comes to a small piece of the insurance market. yet there is advanced some of the most outright lies about the law. here's a sampling from just this year. >> you said it's the most dangerous piece of legislation in the history of the united states. >> yes, i think so. >> and i'm asking if you think -- >> let's repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens. let's not do that. >> this killing health benefits is shattering the economy all across the country and all across the united states. >> of course there are death panels in there. the important thing to remember is that's just one aspect of this atrocious, unaffordable, cumbersome, burdensome, evil policy of obama's. and that is obama care. >> obama care is really, i think, the worst thing that has happened in this nation since

slavery. and it is in a way, it is slavery in a way. >> jonathan capehart, one of the concerns i have is with all of this misinformation that's being circulated and against the backdrop of the debacle of the rollout of the affordable care act, the people who are most needed to buy in, the so-called young invincibles are going to have a lack of confidence in becoming a part of this whole process. >> right. and even before the debacle of the healthcare.gov rollout, you had those ads being done by organizations trying to convince young people not to enroll. actively telling them don't get health care. remember the creepy uncle sam ads? so this is all part of an ongoing efforts to make sure that the affordable care act fails so that when it does fail, they can all say, see, we told you it would fail. it's unbelievably cynical, and you know, it's something that -- i think it was michele bachmann who said that obama care kills seniors, kills children.

what they're doing by trying to deny people health care is putting people's health at risk. >> david corn, take a look at this map. it's from the republican senator mitch mcconnell's office and it's being circulated among conservatives. now it shows the states where people have reported receiving insurance cancellation notices, and that's significant, but let's remember, republicans led the effort to deprive people of insurance under the law now let's look at this map from the white house. it shows the republican-controlled states that rejected the medicaid expansion, and would have extended insurance to more than 5 million americans. 1.2 million people in texas alone could be covered right now and yet they're not because of the ted cruz wing of the republican party, which has been hell-bent on destroying the affordable care act in any way that it could. is that message getting through to the american people? is the president being successful in this regard in explaining this? >> i don't think the white house still after all this time has

fully figured out how to deal with this blanket opposition and obstructionism they get which is fueled by statements that are not true and hyperbolic. very simple fact. right now the republicans, their hair is on fire because a couple of million americans are getting cancellation notices, a lot of them from junk plans. if you repeal obama care, about 137 million americans would get some form of cancellation notice in terms of being kicked off their plan, there's kids being kicked off their plans, pre-existing conditions. so if they're really concerned about who's going to lose benefits, then they would not be advocating repeal. they'd be talking about how to make this system work. you know, we've talked about this before, michael. their real fear is that eventually when all the dust settles and the cranky website starts to work and people start sorting through this, they're going to realize -- enough people are going to realize --

that this ain't slavery. this ain't a bad deal. in fact, it might be a good deal and they're going to look stupid and more importantly they're going to lose. the republicans are going to lose their key message, which is that government is the problem, not the solution, and can't do anything for you. this is what this is all about. thaunchts both. coming up, the firing xwaurd is at it again. taking shots at chris christie and mitch mccobble, now firing back. a fight progressives are obvi s obviously loving, and banning abortion after 20 weeks citing fetal pain. it's not clear he's correct in the science or the law but he may have the politics just right. and, o, canada. toronto mayor rob ford's latest pub lyn embarrassment and become an international celebrity for all the wrong reasons. finally, republican steve king has done it again and this time concluded that president bush was right after all about iraq trying to get yellow keg

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we're looking for can be found in the record of governors like susana martinez, rick scott, terry brandstead. conservative governors. welcome back to "hardball." only hardening and deepening divisions with the republican party. ken cuccinelli's loss in virginia unleashed a blood bath of party in-fighting including sabotage. despite chris christie's landslide victory, known as a rhino republican in name only. rick perry, a tea partier

himself conveniently left chris christie off the list of what he was calling conservative governors. it's not the first time christie hasn't been invited to the party. the main stream wing of the gop is firing back led by mitchell mcconnell who opened fire on the ted cruz wing of the party in the "wall street journal." in an interview with peggy noonan, mcconnell blasts them for their views and tactics and says "the most important election tuesday wasn't the governor of new jersey and it wasn't the governor of virginia. it was the special election for congress in south alabama. where a krcandidate who said th shutdown was a great idea, the president was born in kenya and that he opposed speaker boehner came in second." an nbc political analyst and radio talk show host, and a deputy bureau chief at "time" magazine featuring cover christie on the cover. a naive question.

why didn't rick perry reference chris christie? what's going on there? >> he doesn't like him. he doesn't like that brand of politics and thinks these a squishy moderate as to a lot of conservative republicans. i think chris christie has a big problem with the base of his party. >> with regard to tuesday, ron, is it clear that as between purity and pragmatism, pragmatism had a good day. >> pragmatism did have a pretty good day. chris christie's esengs, if yas the mainstream of being the front-runner for the presidential race coming up highlights the division in the republican party. we do have two parties now. they're taking shots at each other. it's on in the republican party now. as long as chris christie keeps that position as a punitive front runner, that division is going to continue to be highlighted. and the only people that win in that are the democrats. >> ron, here's the question i'd like to know -- the iowan who voted for rick santorum in the 2012 cycle, and let's not forget santorum won

the iowa caucus, when that same individual goes to sflovote in , are they thinking -- geez, christie's not as pure as i like, but, hell, this time i want to win. >> well, they might be thinking that. and chris christie certainly hopes he's going to be thinking that. if they voted for santorum, they're going to be looking for ted cruz or someone like that. you'll have this division all the way through. >> but then you lose. >> yes. >> because ted cruz can't be elected president. >> i know. i know that. you do lose. and ergo, the democrats win. >> to this win, christie has made one thing clear. that republicans are still obsessed with purity. the day after christie's landslide victory, sean hannity let louis on the new jersey governor. >> if you want to look at a liberal record on issues like guns, gay marriage, controversial appointments, this governor has no idea what's going to hit him. if you can't beat hillary clinton in the exit polls in new

jersey on the day you are the most popular in your state, don't think it's going to get better. it's likely going to get worse. he's not in the mainstream of conservatism. >> michael crowley. chris christie standing up to that mind-set will do him a world of good in a general election. the question is can he sustain the primary process if he's got the likes of limbaugh, beck, and hannity against him? >> it's going to be really hard. mitt romney tried to do this, but romney fled from all his positions on those issues in a way that we're not seeing christie beginning to do. by the end of the process, romney looks a little ridiculous to a lot of conservatives. so i think it's going to be extremely hard for christie to get past these sort of firewall of the republican base for exactly those reasons. he faces this choice that romney faced, which is, do you try to retreat from those positions and look like you're a flip-flopper

or changeling, or do you try to own it and fight your way through the firewall? but it's a hard fight. >> ron, let's not forget that mitt romney was aided by the fact that there was a cannibalization going on to the right of him on the political spectrum within the primary process. he had michele bachmann and newt gingrich, et cetera fighting for that same piece of pie. that's really what chris christie needs. isn't it? >> yes and he's probably going to get it. he's probably going to have a challenge, i'm guessing a challenge also from his center kind of position. because there's opportunity there. and chris christie has problems besides not being a tea partier. i mean, when you really dig into chris christie's record, he's not the perfect presidential candidate. all of the divisions within the party aside. my guess is going to get a challenge from the center also. but yeah, you're right. the rest of the party's going to be divided between five people on the tea party wing. but they're going to give him a lot of room to see reasonable. >> michael, to ron's point, i've

written on this subject noting that which makes him immensely popular in new jersey, those every man characteristics and qualities and outbursts, if you string them together in a two-minute reel, people might start to question his temperance to be commander in chief. >> they absolutely will. and not just string them in a two-minute reel, but put it out on the campaign trail surrounded by packs of reporters, hecklers. when you're out in iowa, new hampshire, those early states you don't have a huge bubble around you. people can shout in your face stand up and try to provoke you, and they will. so the question is can he -- does he have the discipline to go out there and campaign and show that he has an even temperament? that is a big test people are going to be waiting to see whether he can pass. i think it's an open question. >> gentlemen, thank you. we appreciate you being here. up next, the latest from the parallel of republican congressman steve king. and don't forget, if you want to follow me on twitter, all you need to do is figure out how to

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back to "hardball." time now for the sideshow. "time" magazine's latest cover featuring new jersey governor chris christie has caused some controversy this week. critics say the idiom they used, the elephant in the room, unfairly pokes fun at christie's weight. whether you think it's offensive or not, the "tonight show's" jay leno proved last night it could have been a lot worse. >> but in their defense, i think they chose the least offensive title. take a look. here's one they had. chris christie having a whale of a time. i didn't like that one. then between a rock and lard place. that's not good. and hail to the chef. yeah, i don't think any of those. so i don't think any of those were good. >> up next, it was a single page in the latest issue of "guns and ammo" and it ignited a fire

storm among the magazine's readers. in an op-ed titled "let's talk about limits" an innocuous case for some basic gun re lations. the outcry, however, was swifter and more severe than anyone anticipated. threats of boycott flooded the page with comments like this -- guns and ammo printing articles regarding gun control is like penthouse printing articles on the hazards of pornography and masturbation. they fired jim bequette issues this apology. i thought it would generate a healthy exchange of ideas on gun rights. i miscalculated pure and simple. i was wrong and ask for your forgiveness. so much for opening a dialogue. finally, iowa congressman steve king may best be known for comparing mexicans to cantaloupes and wanting to build a fence on our southern border.

the latest might of the cadest yesterday, and now he's on a subject you won't believe. it was one of the arguments for going to war with iraq over ten years ago. president bush's state of the union claim that saddam hussein was seeking yellow keg uranium to build nuclear weapons. the problem, of course, is that it wasn't true. >> the british government has learned that saddam hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from africa. >> president bush did include bogus material in his state of the union speech describing how iraq was attempting to get nuclear materials from africa. today the white house admitted that claim was not true. >> well, now congressman king says that president bush's debunk claim which bush himself admitted was actually true. speaking on an iowa radio program, he made this stunning assertion. >> w. bush, he was accused of 16 words in the state of the union address that they said was a lie, and they're still attacking him for that.

and i'll tell you i've had hands-on evidence that what george bush said in that state of the union address was the truth, and he was still punished for it. >> if you're wondering what evidence king has to prove that bush was right all along, you're probably not alone. the question is if he really possessed information that could have proven iraq was indeed seeking uranium, why wouldn't he have spoken up? tylenol cold® helps relieve your worst cold and flu symptoms. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol cold®. \ s clay.

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